Dear Youth Pastor:
It's been a difficult week here at my church. A couple of months ago, I was asked to submit a budget proposal for the upcoming budget year. At first, I thought it was a joke; estimate my youth ministry expenses for the next twelve months? I mean, how am I supposed to know how much money I need for ministry until I spend it?
It turns out, it wasn't a joke. So, I wrote out how much I thought I would need to run our youth ministry in the next year. At first, I was glad I did. As I made my list, I thought of things I never knew we even needed, like a new HD television for playing Call of Duty in our youth room. This week, however, our senior pastor and the chair of the finance committee asked to meet with me. They went over my budget with me, asked why I needed a 400% increase over last year's spending, and told me I needed to redo my budget, giving me a smaller number to work with than I had asked for.
Of course, I was furious. Not only will I not get that HD television, but the children's ministry got more money than I did! How am I supposed to have the coolest youth ministry in town without an endless supply of money? Is there something I can do?
Sincerely,
Destitute in Dayton
Destitute:
It sounds like the tough economy has made its way to your church and your youth ministry budget. Unfortunately, this might be something you have to ride out. An annoyingly increasing number of church treasurers and finance committees are determined to keeping a balanced budget these days--no matter how much you need that big HD television. However there might be a thing or two you can try if you haven't already. For instance, one possible tact is to convince your church's leadership that if you don't sufficiently entertain teenagers, they'll leave for another church and youth ministry--or never even try out your church in the first place. Everyone knows that the best way to reach teenagers is to spend as much money as possible trying to be as entertaining as the media they spend so much time consuming. If you can get enough people in your church to understand this, you might have a chance.
You might also present some published research studies to your senior pastor and finance committee that shows how the only way to be effective in youth ministry is to have a huge budget and lots of expensive stuff. Such a study may not exist, so you might just have to make one up.
Best of luck to you. I pray that you'll soon be enjoying Call of Duty on your amazing new TV.
Sincerely,
Youth Pastor
Dear Youth Pastor is a public service to the good people who read this blog, and letters are published every Thursday. To ask Youth Pastor a question, just email him at DearYouthPastor@hotmail.com.
